What is fair trade?

Third World Quarterly

Volumn 31, Issue 3, 2010, Pages 431-447

  Walton, Andrew ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK; ETHICS; THEORETICAL STUDY; TRADE LIBERALIZATION; TRADE PERFORMANCE;

EID: 77954150682     PISSN: 01436597     EISSN: 13602241     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/01436597.2010.488474     Document Type: Article

References (125)

1. It is duly noted that one attempt to address this disjuncture was made in G Fridell, 'Fair Trade and neoliberalism: assessing emerging perspectives', Latin American Perspectives, 33(6), 2006, pp 8-28.
2. Fridell's taxonomy, however, must be seen as incomplete because it does not acknowledge a number of possible conceptions identified in the literature, including the one ultimately defended here.
3. PL Taylor, ';In the market but not of it: Fair Trade coffee and Forest Stewardship Council certification as market-based social change', World Development, 33(1), 2005, p 133.
4. Oxfam, 'Mugged: poverty in your coffee cup', 2002, pp 25-27, at http://www.maketradefair.com/en/assets/english/mugged.pdf, accessed 30 December 2009.
5. Oxfam, 'Mugged', pp 9, 16-19, 28-30.
6. A problem acknowledged before the establishment of Fair Trade networks by J Aranda & C Morales, 'Poverty alleviation through participation in Fair Trade coffee networks: the case of CEPCO, Oaxaca, Mexico', 2002, p 7, at http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/Sociology/FairTradeResearchGroup/doc/cepco.pdf, accessed 30 December 2009.
7. VE Méndez, 'Fair Trade networks in two coffee cooperatives of western El Salvador: an analysis of insertion through a second level organisation', 2002, p 5, at http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/Sociology/FairTradeResearchGroup/doc/elsal.pdf, accessed 30 December 2009.
8. M Levi & A Linton, 'Fair Trade: a cup at a time?', Politics and Society, 31(3), 2003, p 412.
9. PD Rice & J McLean, 'Sustainable coffee at the crossroads', White Paper prepared for the Consumer's Choice Council, 1999, p 22, at http://www.greenbeanery.ca/bean/documents/sustainableCoffee.pdf, accessed 30 December 2009, p 22.
10. A Hira & J Ferrie, 'Fair Trade: three key challenges for reaching the mainstream', Journal of Business Ethics, 63(2), 2006, pp 112-113.
11. Oxfam, 'Mugged', p 9.
12. Ibid, p 10.
13. Ibid, pp 9-11.
14. European Fair Trade Association (EFTA), 'Fair Trade', at http://www.european-fair-trade-association.org/observatory/index.php/fairtrade, accessed 30 December 2009.
15. Information here drawn from FLO. FLO, 'Generic Fairtrade standards for small producers' organisations', at http://www.fairtrade.net/fileadmin/user_upload/content/SPO_Aug09_EN.pdf, accessed 30 December 2009.
16. FLO, 'Generic Fairtrade standards for hired labour', at http://www.fairtrade.net/fileadmin/user_upload/content/HL_Aug09_EN.pdf, accessed 30 December 2009.
17. FLO, 'Generic Fairtrade trade standards', at http://www.fairtrade.net/fileadmin/user_upload/content/GTS_Aug09_EN.pdf, accessed 30 December 2009.
18. WFTO, '10 standards of Fair Trade', at http://www.wfto.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2&Itemid=14, accessed 30 December 2009.
19. W Young & K Utting, 'Fair Trade, business and sustainable development', Sustainable Development, 13(3), 2005, p 140.
20. G Moore, 'The Fair Trade movement: parameters, issues and future research', Journal of Business Ethics, 53(1-2), 2004, p 78.
21. On the third, see, B Doherty & S Tranchell, 'New thinking in international trade? A case study of the Day Chocolate Company', Sustainable Development, 13(3), 2005, pp 173-174.
22. C Bacon, 'Confronting the coffee crisis: can Fair Trade, organic, and speciality coffees reduce small-scale farmer vulnerability in northern Nicaragua?', World Development, 33(3), 2005, p 506.
23. This seems to be the view of the authors from whom the above examples were drawn, as suggested in Young & Utting, 'Fair Trade, business, and sustainable development', p 139.
24. Moore, 'The Fair Trade movement', p 74.
25. Other authors who make similar suggestions include Z Boda, 'Conflicting principles of Fair Trade', Business Ethics Papers, 3, 2001, p 22.
26. AJ Nicholls, 'Strategic options in Fair Trade retailing', International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management, 30(1), 2002, p 7.
27. This quote is taken from the FINE definition introduced in the first section of this paper. The same idea is supported by a number of other Fair Trade actors, including People Tree, 'About People Tree', at http://www.peopletree.co.uk/about.php, accessed 30 December 2009.
28. Divine Chocolate, 'About Devine', at http://www.divinechocolate.com/about/default.aspx, accessed 30 December 2009.
29. Traidcraft, 'What is Fair Trade?', at http://www.traidcraft.co.uk/about_traidcraft/faq/fair_trade/what_is_fair_trade.htm, accessed 30 December 2009.
30. The following line of thought it taken from M-C Renard, 'The interstices of globalisation: the example of fair coffee', Sociologia Ruralis, 39(4), 1999, pp 484-500.
31. Levi & Linton, 'Fair Trade', p 407.
32. See, for instance, S Lockie, K Lyons, G Lawrence & K Mummery, 'Eating "green": motivations behind organic food consumption in Australia', Sociologia Ruralis, 42(1), 2002, pp 23-39.
33. K Bird & DR Hughes, 'Ethical consumption: the case of "fairly-traded" coffee', Business Ethics: A European Review, 6(3), 1997, pp 159-167.
34. C Arnot, P Boxall & S Cash, 'Do ethical consumers care about price? A revealed preference analysis of Fair Trade purchases', Canadian Journal of Agricultural Studies, 54(4), 2006, pp 555-565.
35. C Arnot, P Boxall & S Cash, 'Do ethical consumers care about price?', pp 561-563.
36. Whether this commitment is completely steadfast is, of course, questionable. As Fridell notes, even among committed consumers we must admit that ethical considerations remain just one influence on choices and it would be an exaggeration to think nothing could alter their priorities. See G Fridell, 'Fair Trade and the international moral economy: within and against the market', Cerlac Working Paper Series, 2003, p 7, at http://www.yorku.ca/cerlac/documents/Fridell.pdf, accessed 30 December 2009. However, that consumers show some special commitment is sufficient to justify the basic connection to ethical consumerism.
37. BD Parrish, VA Luzadis & WR Bentley, 'What Tanzania's coffee farmers can teach the world: a performance based look at the Fair Trade-free trade debate', Sustainable Development, 13(3), 2005, p 187.
38. Bacon, 'Confronting the coffee crisis', p 506.
39. MA Littrell & MA Dickson, Social Responsibility in the Global Market: Fair Trade of Cultural Products, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1999, pp 16-17.
40. On the general point, see MS LeClair, 'Fighting the tide: alternative trade organisations in the era of global free trade', World Development, 30(6), 2002, p 950.
41. On the Oxfam initiative, see WFTO, 'Where did it all begin?', at http://www.wfto.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10&Itemid=17&limit=1&limitstart=1, accessed 30 December 2009.
42. On which, see WFTO, 'Awareness raising, campaigning and advocacy', at http://www.wfto.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10&Itemid=17&limit=1&limitstart=4, accessed 30 December 2009.
43. J Wempe, 'Ethical entrepreneurship and Fair Trade', Journal of Business Ethics, 60(3), 2005, p 213.
44. A similar idea is offered by Littrell & Dickson, Social Responsibility in the Global Market, p 14.
45. See, for instance, A Tallontire, 'Challenges facing fair trade: which way now?', Small Enterprise Development, 13(3), 2002, p 15.
46. N Udomkit & A Winnett, 'Fair trade in organic rice: a case study from Thailand', Small Enterprise Development, 13(3), 2002, pp 48-51.
47. Aranda & Morales, 'Poverty alleviation through Fair Trade coffee networks', p 6.
48. Méndez, 'Fair Trade networks in two coffee cooperatives of western El Salvador', p 9.
49. L Raynolds, 'Poverty alleviation through participation in Fair Trade coffee networks: existing research and critical issues', 2002, pp 19-20, at http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/Sociology/FairTradeResearchGroup/doc/rayback.pdf, accessed 30 December 2009.
50. D Jaffie, JR Kloppenburg & MB Monroy, 'Bringing the "moral charge" home: Fair Trade within the North and within the South', Rural Sociology, 69(2), 2004, pp 184-186.
51. On the former, see Taylor, 'In the market but not of it', p 134.
52. On the latter, see Aranda & Morales, 'Poverty alleviation through Fair Trade coffee networks', pp 5-6.
53. Méndez; 'Fair Trade networks in two coffee cooperatives of western El Salvador', p 8.
54. Doherty & Tranchell, 'New thinking in international trade?', p 173.
55. Raynolds, 'Poverty alleviation through participation in Fair Trade coffee networks', p 22.
56. E Paul, 'Evaluating Fair Trade as a development project: methodological considerations', Development in Practice, 15(2), 2005, p 148.
57. See, for example, Rice & McLean, 'Sustainable coffee at the crossroads', p 83.
58. LeClair, 'Fighting the tide', p 955.
59. B Thomson, 'Lessons for Fair Trade', Small Enterprise Development, 10(4), 1999, p 59.
60. A Tallontire, 'Partnerships in Fair Trade: reflections from a case study of Café Direct', Development in Practice, 10(2), 2000, p 173.
61. Parrish, et al, 'What Tanzania's coffee farmers can teach the world', pp 187-188.
62. See, for instance, L Humphrey, 'Which way to market? Exploring opportunities for marginalised producers in developing countries to supply mainstream commercial companies in the UK', Traidcraft Policy Unit Report Series 1, 2000, pp 5-6, at http://www.traidcraft.co.uk/Resources/Traidcraft/Documents/PDF/tx/policy_which_way_to_market.pdf, accessed 30 December 2009.
63. Traidcraft, 'What is Fair Trade?'.
64. People Tree, 'About People Tree'.
65. Starfish Fair Trade, 'About us', at http://starfishfairtrade.co.uk/About_Us.html, accessed 30 December 2009.
66. Raynolds, 'Poverty alleviation through participation in Fair Trade coffee networks', p 19.
67. Aranda & Morales, 'Poverty alleviation through Fair Trade coffee networks', p 18.
68. Méndez, 'Fair Trade networks in two coffee cooperatives of western El Salvador', p 16.
69. Bacon, 'Confronting the coffee crisis', p 506.
70. See for instance, Raynolds, 'Poverty alleviation through participation in Fair Trade coffee networks', p 20.
71. PL Taylor, DL Murray & L Raynolds, 'Keeping trade fair: governance challenges in the Fair Trade coffee initiative', Sustainable Development, 13(3), 2005, pp 202-203.
72. Udomkit & Winnett, 'Fair trade in organic rice', p 51.
73. See, for instance, PL Taylor, DL Murray & L Raynolds, 'Fair Trade coffee: building producer capacity via global networks', Journal of International Development, 16(8), 2004, pp 1117-1118.
74. Doherty & Tranchell, 'New thinking in international trade?', p 174.
75. Doherty & Tranchell, 'New thinking in international trade?', p 173 note, for instance, the empowerment-building effects (internal and external) of Divine Chocolate's power-sharing model of stakeholding and decision making.
76. See also Raynolds, 'Poverty alleviation through participation in Fair Trade coffee networks', p 22.
77. See, for example, Tallontire, 'Partnerships in Fair Trade', pp 173-175.
78. C Getz & A Shreck, 'What organic and Fair Trade labels do not tell us: towards a place-based understanding of certification', International Journal of Consumer Studies, 30(5), 2005, pp 498-499.
79. See, for example, Traidcraft, 'What is Fair Trade?'.
80. Larry's Beans, 'Fair Trade-equality not charity', at https://www.larrysbeans.com/fair-trade-equality-not-charity/, accessed 30 December 2009.
81. Fridell, 'Fair Trade and neoliberalism', pp 23-24.
82. Brown, for example, suggests the establishment of an independent body to co-ordinate market exchange under Fair Trade rules instead of functioning under the remit of the World Trade Organization. See MB Brown, Fair Trade: Reform and Realities in the International Trading System, London: Zed Books, 1993, pp 171-175.
83. We shall focus on only one particular version of this thesis but similar ideas are proffered by C Sugden, 'Fair Trade as Christian mission', in P Johnson & C Sugden (eds), Markets, Fair Trade and the Kingdom of God: Essays to Celebrate Traidcraft's 21st Birthday, Oxford: Regnum Books, 2001, pp 9-10.
84. S Smith & S Barrientos, 'Fair Trade and ethical trade: are there moves towards convergence?', Sustainable Development, 13(3), 2005, pp 192-193.
85. MK Goodman, 'Reading Fair Trade: political ecological imaginary and the moral economy of Fair Trade foods', Political Geography, 23(7), 2004, p 894.
86. L Raynolds, 'Consumer/producer links in Fair Trade coffee networks', Sociologia Ruralis, 42(4), 2002, p 416.
87. Raynolds, 'Forging new local/global links through Fair Trade agro-food networks', in R Almås & G Lawrence (eds), Globalization, Localization and Sustainable Livelihoods, Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003, pp 58-59.
88. L Raynolds, 'Re-embedding global agriculture: the international organic and Fair Trade movements', Agriculture and Human Values, 17(3), 2000, p 306.
89. DL Murray & L Raynolds, 'Alternative trade in bananas: obstacles and opportunities for progressive social change in the global economy', Agriculture and Human Values, 17(1), 2000, p 66.
90. On the former, see Tallontire, 'Partnerships in Fair Trade', p 173.
91. On the latter, see Getz & Shreck, 'What organic and Fair Trade labels do not tell us', p 498.
92. J John, 'Fair Trade and standard setting: a labour rights perspective', Working USA, 5(1), 2001, pp 67-68.
93. Paul, 'Evaluating Fair Trade as a development project', p 135.
94. A Shreck, 'Resistance, redistribution, and power in the Fair Trade banana initiative', Agriculture and Human Values, 22(1), 2005, p 26.
95. S Lyon, 'Evaluating Fair Trade consumption: politics, defetishization and producer participation', International Journal of Consumer Studies, 30(5), 2006, pp 457-459.
96. On the former, see Smith & Barrientos, 'Fair Trade and ethical trade', p 196.
97. On the latter, see Shreck, 'Resistance, redistribution, and power in the Fair Trade banana initiative', p 26.
98. M Moberg, 'Fair Trade and Eastern Caribbean banana farmers: rhetoric and reality in the anti-globalization movement', Human Organization, 64(1), 2005, p 5.
99. A Shreck, 'Just bananas? Fair Trade banana production in the Dominican Republic', International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food, 10(2), 2002, p 20.
100. I Hudson & M Hudson, 'Removing the veil? Commodity fetishism, Fair Trade and the environment', Organization and Environment, 16(4), 2003, pp 414-419.
101. Ibid, p 424.
102. Lyon, 'Evaluating Fair Trade consumption', p 459.
103. Ibid, pp 457-459.
104. Similar points are made by C Wright, 'Consuming lives, consuming landscapes: interpreting advertisements for Cafedirect coffees', Journal of International Development, 16(5), 2004, p 678.
105. Fridell, 'Fair Trade and neoliberalism', p 22.
106. For instance, Paola Ghillani openly acknowledged that a key reason for him accepting the job as Director of Max Havelaar was to develop the organisation into a self-sufficient business. P Hulm, 'Fair Trade as a business model', International Trade Forum, 2, 2006, pp 20-21.
107. See also Hira & Ferrie, 'Fair Trade: three key challenges for reaching the mainstream', p 111.
108. Tallontire, 'Challenges facing fair trade', p 22.
109. T Witkowski, 'Fair Trade marketing: an alternative system for globalization and development', Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 13(4), 2005, p 31.
110. Emphasis added. This quote is taken from the FINE definition introduced in the first section of this paper and was used in the section originally defending Fair Trade as global market justice in a nonideal world.
111. This objection is based on B Lindsay, 'Grounds for complaint? Understanding the coffee crisis', Centre for Trade Policy Studies Paper 16, 2003, at http://www.freetrade.org/pubs/briefs/tbp-016.pdf, accessed 30 December 2009.
112. This conclusion is supported for markets more broadly by R Maseland & A De Vaal, 'How fair is Fair Trade?', De Economist, 150(3), 2002, p 259, although they do recognise the consistency of the argument depends on the specific product price elasticity of demand.
113. This criticism is proffered by Fridell, 'Fair Trade and neoliberalism', pp 21-23.
114. P Singer & J Mason, Eating: What We Eat and Why it Matters, London: Arrow Books, 2006, pp 161-163.
115. Ibid, p 165.
116. Important examples here include GA Cohen, Self-Ownership, Freedom, and Equality, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995, pp 50, 260.
117. J Carens, Equality, Moral Incentives, and the Market: An Essay in Utopian Politico-Economic Theory, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1981.
118. R Van der Veen & P Van Parijs, 'A capitalism road to communism', Basic Income Studies: An International Journal of Basic Income Research, 1(1), 2006, pp 5-8.
119. The difficulty of finding an efficient alternative is well explored by A Buchanan, Ethics, Efficiency, and the Market, New Jersey: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 1988.
120. J Rawls, A Theory of Justice, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999, p 266.
121. This idea is suggested by R Howse & MJ Trebilcock, 'The Fair Trade-free trade debate: trade, labor, and the environment', International Review of Law and Economics, 16(1), 1996, pp 76-79.
122. This position is also supported by C Valor, 'What if all trade was Fair Trade? The potential of a social clause to achieve the goals of fair trade', Journal of Strategic Marketing, 14(3), 2006, p 172.
123. These points are made in Lyon, 'Evaluating Fair Trade consumption', p 461.
124. A point along these lines is made by SM Okin, ';Gender, the public and the private', in D Held (ed), Political Theory Today, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1991, pp 75-76.
125. See, for example, those emphasised in T Pogge, World Poverty and Human Rights: Cosmopolitan Responsibilities and Reforms, Cambridge: Polity, 2008.